


What's In a Name?

by msdonnatemplenoble



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Donna Noble - Freeform, F/M, Longing, Memories, Pete's World, Pete's World Torchwood, Post-Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Regret, Relationship(s), Tentoo choosing his name, honoring Donna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 15:58:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7764046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msdonnatemplenoble/pseuds/msdonnatemplenoble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Pete's World, the Metacrisis Doctor needs to chose a name for his paperwork. While resistant at first, a conversation with  Rose outside Torchwood, yields a decision. It is one that unleashes a torrent of buried emotions and longing for the one person he misses more than words can say yet can never see again. Donna Noble.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	What's In a Name?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the @onelifenet prompt, "Names".

"I don’t see what’s wrong with Doctor.” He kicked at an invisible rock on the ground and made a face as they stood outside of Torchwood. The Doctor fidgeted with a pen he had in his pocket, wishing for the millionth time it was his sonic screwdriver instead.  
And no matter what Rose said, he was most definitely not pouting!

Rose shook her head and clucked her tongue at him. “I thought Time Lords were above such things as poutin’,” she chided him. She reached out to place a hand upon his arm in a gesture meant to both comfort and reassure him. She could tell this wasn’t easy, that he was suffering from some sort of identity crisis since settling into this dimension with her and her family.

For his part, the Meta Doctor smiled softly at the hand upon his arm before cocking his head at Rose. “I wasn’t pouting," he scoffed, "just pointing out the absurdity of the situation is all.” He shook his head at her, making a little face that was most definitely not a pout. “This dimension doesn’t have a version of me in it. It doesn’t have the Doctor. So what do I have to go and change my name for? Why can’t everyone just accept me for who I am, including my name? I mean look at me…”  
The half Time Lord, half human Doctor straightened up and adjusted his tie before running his hand through his luscious mane, a move he knew sent shivers down Rose’s spine. He smirked at her. “I’m perfect just the way I am. Why would I want to change anything about me? Including my name?”

The blonde rolled her eyes at him. “This conversation is getting old, Doctor.” An exasperated sigh escaped from Rose as she withdrew her hand from his arm. Still, she found the need to duck her head to try to hide her smile at his blatant cheekiness. “My dad says you need proper papers to navigate your way through this world yeah?” She nodded her head at him in affirmation. “Well, unless you are gonna start croonin’ ballads fer a livin’ one name isn’t gonna cut it, so yer gonna have to pick somethin’ and he said today is the last day! No more puttin' it off or he'll pick for ya'," she insisted, hands resting upon her hips.

“Oi!” he mumbled giving her a little look at her bossy tone, “shades of Jackie there, yeah?” He shuffled his feet wisely looking down at his trainers.  
“Very well then, names. Names, names, names… Blimey, I’ve used quite a bit of ‘em over the past, oh… nine hundred years or so.” He began rubbing the back of his neck in a gesture Rose had come to recognise as meaning he was clearly feeling uncomfortable.

As the Doctor paced a streak into the pavement, Rose gave him an appraising look. “I always thought you looked a bit like a James meself,” she said off-handedly.

The Doctor froze. He turned his chocolate brown eyes upon her, his face lighting up. “James?” He ran a hand down the side of his face, stopping to cup his own chin. He seemed to be pondering the name, letting it roll around his tongue for a moment or two before beaming a grin at her. “Oi! Rose Tyler that’s it! James! Doctor James… Doctor James what though?” He groaned and flopped down upon a nearby rock.

“So close.” Rose hissed quietly before shrugging. “What’s wrong with Tyler?”

The Doctor’s eyebrow shot up at her in surprise. “But that’s your name,” he pointed out, “I should have one of my own, right? One that fits me, where I come from, who I am…”

Just then, his eyes went from playful, to despondent and Rose found herself getting up and crossing the distance between them. Gently, she cupped the side of his face in her hand. Things were still a bit awkward between them as they learned to navigate their way within this world and with each other. However, they recently had found themselves falling back into familiar patterns and comfortable routines. So seeing her Doctor so obviously in pain drew her to him like a magnet. Rose immediately began searching for ways to comfort him and deliver him from it.  
“What is it Doctor? Are you all right? Should I get me mum? What is it?” she begged, her voice so full of love and concern that it touched his human heart in ways he didn’t think possible. He reached out and covered her hand with his own in a gesture as much to reassure her as to comfort himself, pressing her small hand against his cheek.

He turned his eyes upon her, his face serious and his voice both quiet and small. “No, that won’t be necessary, it’s just; it's just that I know what I want my name to be, what it should be,” he insisted.

Rose looked confused, but didn’t interrupt, she simply nodded, encouraging him to go on.

Taking a deep breath, he gripped her hand tightly, pulling it away from his face yet clinging to it like a lifeline. “Doctor James… Noble,” he whispered, as tears clouded his vision. "You know, for her, for my Donna.” His words came out in a rush, as he struggled to form the sounds to say her name out loud. When he did, It came out in a choked sob. Simply saying her name broke the dam holding back all the emotions he had been trying so hard to bury. They overtook him and he dropped his head to Rose’s chest, trying to muffle the sobs that were forcing their way out. The ones he had held back since they landed here, the ones that threaten to spill from him every night long after Rose had drifted off to sleep and Donna haunted his memories.

Dismayed, Rose could only hold him close, stroking his hair as she whispered words of comfort and love as he wept for the loss of his best friend who she knew was oh so much more to him. So much more than just the woman who saved the entire universe at the cost of her very self. She was the woman who gave of herself so that her Doctor may live. So that he could hold her and love her, smile and laugh and go on. Her Doctor's singular human heart was breaking for the loss of his other half, for the woman who saved the other Doctor, and thus himself in turn, in every way possible. Whose friendship and loyalty to the Doctor, made his very existence possible. He wept for the connection to her that was severed and for the fact that he could never repay her for all she gave him, or for the fact that she would never even remember he existed, yet he would never, ever forget her. In his mind, the very least he could do was honour her, his brilliant Donna Noble, the most important woman in all of creation and his best mate, by taking her last name.


End file.
